Bloodstained Mirages
by kuutsun
Summary: AU: "I close my eyes which are dry and red from crying so that no more tears can fall, submitting to the inevitable nightmare I'm about to have. To be honest, whatever reality is has been blurred to the point of no recognition." Welcome to the Himuro Mansion.
1. Twilight Zone

chapter **one : Twilight Zone**

**-**_Tohko_**-**

The sun glimmering through the eyelashes of my half-lidded eyes didn't help my drowsiness which partly managed to drown out the dull pain in my body. I glanced fervently at my wrists, relieved yet worried at the sight. They'd gotten darker but at least hadn't leaked any blood. I must've imagined that. I also must've imagined being slowly ripped apart. It's been like a reoccurring dream, a terrifying delusion appearing whenever I drift in and out of consciousness, which is often. I'm too weak to cry out or even move and the short moments when I'm alone feel like hours. I close my eyes which are dry and red from crying so that no more tears can fall, submitting to the inevitable nightmare I'm about to have. To be honest, whatever reality is has been blurred to the point of no recognition. I know this was never supposed to happen, yet it did and now I'm sitting among the corpses of what used to be my friends, left to wonder when I'll join them...

...Come back soon, okay?..I'll be...waiting...since you are coming back...right? Yuuya?

* * *

"Ne, Yuuya? We're not too far?"

My voice fluctuated to turn what should've been a statement into a question. I wasn't really sure myself. We'd all been on our bicycles for over half an hour now and there wasn't a camp in sight! Only trees and more trees. It seemed almost repetitive. Were we going in circles? The wind stirred my hair as I accelerated to catch up with him, looking over his shoulder to see an oversized, confusing map. He was staring intently at the paper, brow almost furrowed, and hesitantly gave me the slightest hint of a nod. I tried to ignore how cute he looked yet my 'shy glances' didn't go unnoticed by my best friend Emi, who shot me a mischeviously knowing smile while I felt my cheeks redden and glared daggers at her. Blunt, non-lethal ones, of course.

"Well, I'm getting impatient." Mitsuki pouted, puffing her cheeks out ever-so-slightly (okay, don't tell her I said this but she _did_ look like an angry little pufferfish, which, partly, she was) while steadying her pace. A cheery voice came from behind her. "Come on, Mitsuki! Breathe in the nature!" Kensuke grinned, clearly making the best out of an annoying situation. "The only thing I want to breathe in right now is the warmth of our campfire, but I don't see that happening anytime soon!" I'm guessing Mitsuki wasn't overjoyed by our hopeless detour? "Don't worry. We'll get there soon," Fukuroi, our class rep, said. If anything everyone wants to avoid, it's the wrath of an irritated Hellgirl Mitsuki! She simply muttered "We better," between clenched teeth. Emi simply hummed a peppy tune beside me and it was relieving to know that not everyone was miserable. I surely wasn't, at the very least.

At least not until the obnoxious Kai Shimada decided to stomp all over my good mood. "Hey, Tohko. How 'bout we ditch this shit and take a break?" I rolled my eyes, and it was too bad he couldn't see it. "As if!" I mumbled sharply and decided not to say anymore. Now wasn't the time to scream at a stupid boy, yet I still had to bite my lip to prevent any nasty insults from slipping out.

A long time passed, or at least it must've been. Eventually our compasses stopped working, so any meager sense of direction we had was completely eliminated to leave us wandering aimlessly. It was kind of weird, actually; like some magnetic force was trying to direct us away. This made it so we had to use Fukuroi's wristwatch as a confusing substitute (because apparently if you hold a watch with 12 o'clock at the left and move your arm so the hour hand points at the sun, the spot halfway between the hour hand and the 12 is south) but it still didn't seem like we were getting anywhere. Nowhere at all. We were positively lost and getting tired, and we didn't need a compass to tell us that.

After a while even the clock stopped working. It must've ran out of battery; we guessed and Fukuroi doubted. We decided just to ride back. It was getting dark (already?) and maybe I was just paranoid but I was getting a bad feeling about this whole thing. Everyone else seemed unfazed. I guess I was just imagining it. There was something about the forest at night that was so peaceful yet haunting, almost eerily tranquil. Our legs began to wear and even Ryosuke and Tomohiro's seemingly endless conversation about video games died out. It was just us and the forest. Us, all alone under the forests unsettling watch. I didn't like it one bit, really. Not at all...

We still managed to be lost despite the fact we were just retracing our steps! How useless can we be? The sky gave a soft blue tint to our surroundings, the trees seeming to get taller and taller and the air getting heavier. We decided we'd crash at the next clearing, something we definitely should've done a while ago. It was kind of funny that at the next clearing was this huge house, probably long abandoned. It was funny and strange at the same time because we'd been traveling this same path for hours with no buildings in sight before. We must've gone off path somehow, again. Our brakes creaked to disturb nature's silence. Well...couldn't hurt, right?

We'd be long gone before anyone even noticed we were there.

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**A/N:** Well, this is going to get bloody. The Byakudan rascals don't get enough love! I'll try to update as much as I can. Love, hate, feedback, criticism, suggestions & ideas are always welcome!


	2. Red to Black

I cringed, my poor feet aching with each and every clumsy step on the loose and rough cobblestone. Clearly no one was feeling their best at this point, overcome by a mutual feeling of uncertainty, something I could very clearly tell from their confused glances and nervous smiles. I knocked on the door with a reluctant air. The solitude seemed to have gotten to me as I suddenly looked over my shoulder... of course no one was standing right behind me! My eyes only met a sliver of sunshine that had creeped through the blue evening. No answer, as expected. There were hardly any signs of life around this area to start with...

"Himuro Mansion," Emi hummed, her index finger placed thoughtfully on her chin. "I could've sworn I've heard about it somewhere before..." she shrugged, finally settling her eyes on an old curtained window. I nodded in agreement: the name did indeed sound oddly familiar. Reminded me of some urban legend we read about ages ago. "Hey, guys! Let's take a picture in front of our new vacation house, ne?" Kensuke could always make the best of a bad situation, his eyes lighting up as Mitsuki took out her vintage-looking polaroid camera. "Yeah, we're definitely going to want some memories of this trip!"

Fiddling through buttons and switches, the timer finally began to tick in a simultaneous pattern with Mitsuki's swift steps back to the group after she placed the camera on a high-ish surface. She positioned herself in between me and Emi with a bright smile, thumbs up and a sarcastic gleam in her eyes as a dull flash lit and echoed through the woods like a strike of thunder. Kensuke immediately ran over to the camera. "H-hey, where's the photo?" "Hm, maybe...later it'll..?" Mitsuki's voice trailed off in her concentration and soon it was silent once again, other than the sounds of the others going back to their valiant effort to open the door.

"It's open!" Kai yelled brashly, causing me to jump slightly. I lifted the backpack which reposed by my feet and turned towards the entrance. Just poking my head in filled my nose with a mixture of accumulated dust and the acidic scent of antique bamboo flooring! I created a noise somewhere between a sneeze and a cough. "Are you ok?" Yuuya asked in a voice just above a whisper which made my face heat up. I looked away, managing to give a stuttering response of "O-of course..."

"Try not to breathe too much of it in, guys!" Mitsuki's tone was concerned yet her expression reminded me that she was familiar with the odor seeing as she'd been living among her grandma's old furniture and overpowering perfumes for quite a while now. It didn't look half bad, actually; it could've definitely been worse, but it almost seemed as if time hadn't fully caught up with it (visually at least) and that was lucky for us. Kensuke gained some of his cheerful mood back at the relief, placing an idle hand to his hip with his signature toothy grin. "Well, well, well; what a place!"

Before long, we finished settling in, stacking our backpacks and getting out our sleeping bags, almost forgetting about the sticky situation we'd gotten ourselves into.

"Delicious~" I said in between bites. It felt like I hadn't eaten for days but then again it's usually like that whenever I eat Mitsuki's food. She smiled in appreciation; nearly no words were shared during the devouring of Mitsuki's potato curry. "Guys, don't eat so fast! I was really generous using dried chili." "T-that was a b-bit late of a warning...aah! It burns!" Emi began to tear up as she was giggling. I grinned confidently, taking another self-assured munch. "Good thing I'm used to spicy-" My right hand involuntarily went up to my mouth as my left was outstretched to the water bottle which was placed into my hand by a laughing Mitsuki. Tsk. Pays me to be confident. If Mitsuki didn't have such a contagious laugh I would've gotten pretty mad.

Just as our conversation began to drop and our meal ended Emi took out a small box filled of small scribbled-on note cards. "Let's play truth or dare!" Kensuke nodded enthusiastically. We got into a circle and spun a water bottle in the center to figure out who'd start. It made a few whole turns before stopping at Ryosuke's foot. "Kensuke, I choose you!" "Psh, you cheesy bastard. Dare!" Ryosuke smirked mischeviously as he picked up a note card from the box at random, and clearing his throat he read it out. "Turn to the person to your left and break up with them." Kensuke's head turned slowly and dramatically to his left, his eyes meeting Yuuya's, all color draining from his face though he still looked him square in the eye. "I just can't go on like this! I thought we had something... special... but you betrayed my trust and now you lost me! It's over Yuuya Kizami, it's OVER!" Yuuya almost looked hurt. He brought a hand to his face and his posture slumped as if he were about to start crying. He apologized in all seriousness. Kensuke's eyes widened, patting his buddy on the back. "H-hey, yanno we can still be friends, right?" He turned and pushed Kensuke away, now facing the rest of the group with a slightly evil smirk. He began laughing and it was slightly creepy. Just slightly, of course. It was still Yuuya, after all. "You jerk! You hurt me feelings again!" Kensuke hit him harshly in the back.

"Sorry to interrupt the bromance, but it's your turn now Kensuke!" "Hmph. All right, truth or dare Mitsuki?" "How 'bout a dare?" "Come up with a cutesy pet name for everyone in the group." "That's e-a-s-y~ Let's see, Emi would be Bubbles, Tohko's Bambi, Fukuroi is Doodlemuffin, Kizami's Sprinkle, Tomohiro is Baby Cakes, Ryosuke's Sugarcookie, Kai's Tootsie, and you're Custerface!" Kensuke's expression showed total confusion to his own pet name, finally releasing the laugh he'd been struggling to hold in. "Fair enough!"

Mitsuki glanced around the room, her gaze stopping at me. "Tohko!" "U-m...truth!" "Uwaah, don't be boring! Fine, I'll have a juicy one, I bet!" She reached into the box of truths, her hand swimming around until she picked up one. "Let's see...aah, no, not this one!" Kensuke looked over her shoulder. "What? We're playing no passes!" "B-but...fine...um...Who would you go out with from everyone in this room?" I felt my cheeks redden as I tried to formulate an answer that wouldn't give me away. "Eh...I don't think I'd go out with anyone, b-but if I had to choose...I guess...Yuuya, maybe?" Kai suddenly looked very annoyed (no clue why) while Yuuya looked very amused and Mitsuki was mouthing apologies to me. "So that's who you were cheating on me with, huh Yuuya~?" we all started laughing, the awkwardness suddenly becoming very funny.

We ate marshmallow and strawberry kebabs and talked and sang and played card games or truth and dare over mugs of hot caramel milk, which all was so much fun we totally forgot about the fact we weren't even supposed to be in there until we heard the subtle sound of footsteps coming from upstairs... I hoped it was just the old house playing tricks on us but deep down I knew otherwise. "What do we do if someone actually lives here?" Tomohiro kept his head down to glance at his feet as if it'd keep the noise of the creaking wood down. Fukuroi finally stopped fidgeting with his glasses. "I guess we just apologize and leave." "Hey, bonus points if we compliment the place." Ryosuke beamed while Fukuroi rolled his eyes and mumbled, his tongue laced in sarcasm. "Yeah, 'hey, I like what you've done with the place, we'll just be on our way now' is gonna work wonders for us."

There seemed to be an endless amount of passages and corridors that eventually we found ourselves lost. It almost seemed as if that was the point, should any explorers come wandering in the territory of the Himuro Mansion. We were left in the darkness of our shadows, the footsteps dying out as if they had tried to lure us into the depths of this labyrinth in the first place. The unnerving feeling suddenly returned with a few lone chills lingering down my back. I was getting paranoid and nervous and a little knot in the pit of my stomach was telling my subconscious to be careful as if something really bad was going to happen.

"Maybe we should all just stay right here..." Kai had actually said something reasonable, and though it was an almost automatic response for me to disagree to his every remark, I nodded in defeat, slumping against the wall without uttering a word as everyone else did the same. We'd been walking for hours, making our legs feel probably even worse than they did to start with. We looked into the darkness, letting the slight chill of a draft swallow us. I held onto my sweater for warmth as if it was a sort of security, letting my heavy eyelids close as I felt sleep drift over and the nightmare begin.

Blood, limbs, pain everywhere. Darkness, loneliness, helplessness...it was a seemingly endless torture that just seemed too real even if I was somewhat lucid. It was almost as if I was experiencing something that'd happened before. They called me Kirie. Why? My name's Tohko. Who's Kirie? Why are they tearing me apart? Who are they? Everything stopped abruptly. I felt very warm and numb as my vision faded to red and then black.

An unfamiliar and slightly rotten smell engulfed my senses as I opened my eyes. I felt only emptiness beside me.

Where was Emi?

* * *

**A/N:** Sorry for the late and relatively short update, I'll be trying to catch up soon! As always, feedback and criticism is welcome!

**EDIT::** I edited this. It's much longer now! Response to my second review, it is technically a Fatal Frame crossover, but more based on the legend in itself than the actual game. I found the history of the Fatal Frame one of the most fascinating parts of the game and I figured it's adaptable, almost like an alternate Heavenly Host. I thought this group would be interesting for this: I prefer Byakudan over Kirisagi as they just come across as very complex, flawed characters: they're not all on friendly terms and I see that as a promising basis for conflicts in their relationships with one another.


	3. Blood and Rust

A rush of adrenaline and panic send me flying to my feet. "Where's Emi—" a sharp pain pierced my neck, cutting off my weak voice. I glanced round me with my hands still trying to soothe my throat: everyone was still fast asleep, leaning against the wall or awkwardly supported by their bulky bags. It was a really weird, vulnerable feeling to wake up first. I was in no way an early bird but I couldn't sleep properly in a foreign space, in stark comparison to Emi, who can fall asleep practically anywhere and wake up at the strike of dawn full of energy. Did she run off to find a bathroom? Is she lost? Did she try to investigate a noise all by herself? The memory of my nightmare completely slipped away as anxious worry filled my mind. I didn't want to acknowledge my fear, nor did I want to be alone. "Mitsuki," I whispered, shaking her shoulders. "Mmm?" Her tone was clearly annoyed but her eyes slowly opened, unaccustomed to having no blinding light to adjust to. Her face suddenly scrunched up comically as her head tilted to the side to find a lightly snoring Kensuke with his arm around her. I looked away in hope she wouldn't notice my knowing giggles and thankfully she didn't because she was too busy hitting the poor guy off of her. He woke up half in tears! Well, sleepy tears anyway.

"Uwaah..atata... Whyddyadothaa...t..."

"Get off me you idiot!" Mitsuki roared, tossing him to full awareness as well as Ryosuke and Tomohiro who bolted up when they felt the weight of Kurosake crush them in a death blow.

"What do you mean?" He had a childish and mischievous cat-like grin planted on his reddened face.

"You don't need to smother me in my sleep!"

"Don't worry Mitsuki-chama, I wouldn't hug you against your will in my waking moments! Speaking of hugs..." Outstretching his arms, he limped an inch closer. "Good morning hug?"

"Good morning punch." Mitsuki raised her fist with an evil smirk, breaking into laughter as he cowered back into a corner, stifling his own laugh.

"Hey...where's Emi?" Mitsuki finally left Kensuke alone.

"I-I...don't know..." I averted my eyes to the glaring silence. Suddenly, Mitsuki stomped awake the remaining boys, other than Yuuya who was apparently awakened by their pained screams.

After a while it was a struggle to not acknowledge fear. It was almost as if she had vanished without a trace and any footstep imprinted in the dust would only lead to a dead end or stop in the middle of nowhere, leading us in circles. We were unusually tired and gloomy, as if we were awaiting impending doom. I didn't get it! I wasn't just about to lose hope!

We'd gone through countless corridors and searched dozens of rooms before noticing a narrow passage. "Let's go in here!" I tried my best to sound hopeful and push on but my voice quivered. The door at the end of the hallway was already slightly open. I hesitated. "Blood and rust," Yuuya muttered. "Hm?" My head tilted at him. His expression was unreadable, like usual. "That's what it smells like..." If I was hesitant to open the door I was even more reluctant by his comment. Yet I jerked it open, greeted by a chill and near pitch darkness. There were two lit candles in the center of the room where a sort of dusty altar stood. There were no windows and I didn't spot anything else in the room, not that I could see very well but I still tried to navigate the room with the support of the wall. I tripped over something, sending my head against the corner of the room. Wet. Sticky. Red? The candlelight illuminated enough for me to recognize the pool of liquid I was sitting in. Blood. My eyes widened in shock. "Tohko? Come out already." Mitsuki called out. I had no voice to speak and I felt my throat tightening at the thought of...it can't be. I reached over to the thing that pushed me over. A leg. A human leg. I felt further up. It was a person. Cold. Why is the person so cold? The person had something on her face. A mask? I pulled the body to the candlelight. I already knew it but I stubbornly didn't want to but in the light I couldn't deny the truth. Emi. "Emi!? What happened? Talk to me! Emi!" I tried to shout but I spoke in a trembling whisper. She didn't move, didn't breathe. I didn't even feel a freaking pulse. "I..." My eyes widened. She lifted her finger and poked me meekly in the shoulder. "What? What is it?!"

"Found...you..."

"Emi! This isn't a game! What's wrong with you?" I shook her in my arms then tried to pull off the mask...why was it so hard? It's like glued... I pulled hard, eventually yanked it off. Something wet and sticky splat against my face. Something red and warm. I dropped the rusty mask that gouged out Emi's eyes and screamed until my lungs could no longer bear it. I screamed until it hurt but then I regretted it because the pain reminded me I wasn't dreaming. Why couldn't I be dreaming?

The door bolted open, that's all I heard. I hugged my knees, my head hidden as if it would make a difference and whispering "Nonononono," as if it would change anything. I heard their yells and cries before they rushed to my side. "What the f*** happened?" Kai yanked my chin upright. "She...found...me..."

* * *

**A/N:** That escalated quickly. It had to be done. *cries in corner* Merry Christmas & a happy New Year! Love, hate, criticism, free hugs are always welcome. Especially free hugs.


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